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Darius
Darius is a wrestler who lives in Constantinople. History Early History Raised in Constantinople, Darius eventually became a famed wrestler and the city's champion. At some stage more than a few weeks prior to the Invitational Chess Championship, Darius began engaging in an affair with Sultan Suleiman's Queen, Roxelana. Roughly two weeks before the Chess Championship, Cardinal Cardoza discovered the affair and threatened to inform the Sultan if Darius did not agree to his demands. Knowing he would face death if the Sultan found out, Darius reluctantly agreed to succumb to the carnal desires of the Cardinal, but did not mention it to Roxelana. The Tournament During the opening banquet before the Chess Tournament to welcome the various delegations, Darius performed in a series of exhibition matches with other wrestlers, garnering much attention from the women present. Later that night, Darius met with Roxelana for another coupling, one which Elsie Fitzgerald witnessed and later mentioned to Bess. The following night, Cardoza demanded Darius's presence at one of his sordid gatherings at the Catholic embassy. Upon arriving, the uncomfortable wrestler did his best to shut out the initial ministrations of the Cardinal. Having been reluctantly observing some of the proceedings in the hopes of finding something that would confirm if Cardoza was involved in Farnese's murder, Ascham decided that he and Bess had seen enough, and ordered Bess to look away before she could observe the entirety of Cardoza's sordid actions. Noting Darius's obvious discomfort, Ascham pondered why the wrestler had gone along to the proceedings, to which Bess revealed the affair between Darius and Roxelana, correctly guessing the hold Cardoza had over Darius. From this revelation, Ascham considered that possibility that, in attempting to poison Cardoza, Darius had ended up killing Farnese by mistake, and decided to question the wrestler at the next opportunity. However, Suleiman's spies, listening in on the English delegation's room, overheard Bess mention the affair and quickly informed the Sultan. Suleiman quickly arranged for Darius to be drowned in the cisterns below the palace, having the wrestler's body weighted down so that he would drown in the water. Unaware of this, Ascham attempted to find Darius to ask his questions, but upon realising he had gone missing went to speak with Roxelana instead. When Ascham brought up Cardoza's blackmailing of Darius, Roxelana revealed that while she was also being blackmailed by Cardoza for other purposes, but that she was unaware of Darius's manipulation. After Roxelana revealed she intended to deal with Cardoza for his blackmailing of her, Ascham suggested that Darius might not have had the patience and attempted his own revenge on the Cardinal. Shortly after Ascham and Bess confronted Pietro in the cisterns and confirmed he was the true culprit, Bess stumbled upon the body of Darius, though Ascham deduced that his death was not related to their now-concluded mystery. However, Ascham's revelation to Roxelana about Cardoza's blackmailing of Darius led her to move up her plans to deal with Cardoza, and so the Queen set the Harelipped Fiend who had terrorised the city loose into the Catholic embassy to enact revenge for Darius and herself. As Ascham relayed to Suleiman the truths behind the various deaths, the Sultan feigned ignorance by inquiring about Darius's death. Until the wrestler's body was found, Ascham had considered Cardoza being responsible for murdering Darius if the Cardinal had also suspected him of the attempted poisoning. However, the nature of Darius's drowning and the discovery of the spies listening in to his delegation's room led to Ascham to conclude that Suleiman had ordered the murder. To Ascham's accusation, Suleiman did nothing other than blink in response. Trivia . Category:Characters Category:The Tournament Category:The Tournament Characters Category:Deceased Characters